How to... Edit Photos (Pt.1)

Most cameras come supplied with Image Editing Software
but they are often basic utilities
that don't offer the facility to create
photos suitable for Web publishing.

Sometimes the photo might be too dark,
too light, blurred, under-saturated,
or... well, you get the idea. But isn't this cheating,
you may ask? No – all you're attempting to do is return
the photo back to how it looks under normal conditions.
If you try to over-egg the correction then that's cheating...

Irfanview: If
you don't already have suitable software then go
to www.IrfanView.com and
download a free copy for an excellent (and
free!)
image editing utility. The tutorials following
are based on using this software.

First Steps

One
of the most
important factors
to creating a
faster and leaner
web site is the
size of image.

If you have several large photographs
to include on
your Web page,
the simple answer
is — don’t!
Instead, consider
placing ‘thumbnails’ (tiny
images created
by reducing the
original photo)
on the page,
with external
links to the larger images.

Even so, the large
image
the thumbnails
link to should
not be higher
than 640x480.

Follow these
short Irfanview tutorials
to enable quick
and easy editing
of the photo to
the size you require.
Oh, and while
we're at it,
this will help
you to brighten,
sharpen, saturate
and save the photo
too (see part
2)!

On each occasion, save the new
file using a different file
name;
e.g. newfile.jpg and newfile-t.jpg

Hint

Example: if the image to resize is 1024x768,
you need to resize the
largest dimension down
to 150 pixels, so in
this case adjust the
'Width' (1024).

150 pixels is just a recommendation, but
it is not advisable
to go above 180 pixels as the largest
dimension. However, your personal
need might require a larger
thumbnail, in which case
I'd suggest limiting the
number of images per page.

For the larger images, you needn't go
above 640 pixels as the
widest dimension and
400 (as used by eBay) is
often acceptable.

Note the diagram
(left) was saved
as a 'GIF' (pronounced
"jiff") and this format
is best for block
colour images, like
cartoons or diagrams.

Sharpening

Sharpening is
often
necessary
following
a Resize
operation.

A softening of the edges
occurs
that
can make
the image
look
indistinct
and sharpening
can make
a small,
but very
noticeable
difference
to the
quality
of the
image:

Press
Ctrl-E and click 'Sharpen'.

Enter a value
of
about 10, although
a
little experimentation
might
be necessary.

Press 'OK'.

A very subtle change, but
the image
should
now
look much
cleaner
and crisper.

Hint

When
sharpening, don't overdo
the effect or straight
lines might start to look
a little jagged.

Saving

You can now save the image if you're pleased
with the result,
or go to page
2 for some image processing tutorials.

To save the image:

Press 'S'

Locate the directory where you wish to save
the image. Normally
the 'My Images'
folder is used,
which is within
the 'My Documents'
folder.

Enter the name for your file into the
'File name:' field.
Do not use spaces!

In the dialogue on the right, make
sure the 'Save
as progressive
JPG'

Move the 'Save quality:' slider so
that the figure
reads between
'70' and '75'.

Click the 'Save' button.

Hint

Using
spaces in a file name is
strongly advised against.
Instead use the 'underscore'
(_) or 'negative' (-) symbols
to separate words.

Always use a totally new file name for
each saved image.
You might always
want to re-edit
the original (large)
image!

About JPEG Images

It must be noted that JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg")
images use a compression
method where a
certain amount
of the picture
data is lost
(called "lossy").
This method is
important as
it permits very
small image file sizes.

Providing you don't overdo the compression,
a visitor to the
web site should
never notice the
difference. However,
repeatedly saving
and editing the
same photo
compounds the
data loss making
it degrade rapidly.
It is therefore
very important
to always retain
the original photo
and never overwrite
it.

More
Advanced

Save the original large
image as a TIFF
file. This does
not use a 'lossy'
method and can
be saved repeatedly
without degrading
the image.

However,
these 'TIFF' images
are not suitable
for web use and
JPEG is always
the best choice
for web photos.